


Salty and Sweet

by angelofthequeers



Series: Beelicious [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Crush at First Sight, Flowers, Fluff, Language of Flowers, Lol Dean is salty, M/M, Okay so I have a thing for floriography, Pining, Post-Break Up, Romance, sue me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:36:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelofthequeers/pseuds/angelofthequeers
Summary: Dean Winchester comes into Beelicious for the perfect salty bouquet for his ex-boyfriend. Cas is only too happy to help...until he realises that he's crushing on the guy. And promptly starts to pine. Because what would a cheesy romantic AU be without pining?





	Salty and Sweet

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own SPN.
> 
> Writing your own book is haaaaaard. Maybe I need to revisit my fanfiction roots…and I was provided with the perfect excuse to do so.
> 
> Thank Chuck for FB Destiel groups.
> 
> Inspiration is [here](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1617050241652588&set=pcb.1617050278319251&type=3&theater)

The most exciting moment of Cas’ life occurs on a quiet Monday morning.

“Thank you!” the woman gushes, clutching her bouquet of blue forget-me-nots. Cas just smiles graciously.

“I’m sure he’ll love them,” he says. The woman nods, her blonde curls swishing around her as she does.

“I just hope it isn’t too much for me to tell Sam that I love him,” she says, twirling a lock of her hair nervously. “I mean, he still gets funny whenever I tell him…”

“Trust me, they’re perfect,” Cas assures her, even though she’s already bought the flowers and he doesn’t need to push for a sale. “You don’t have to tell him what they mean if you’re too afraid.”

The woman beams at him.

“Thank you!” She turns and nearly sprints out of the shop, calling, “See you later!” over her shoulder.

Once she’s gone, silence falls on the store. Cas sighs and turns back to the small vase of mismatched flowers he’s taken to arranging in between customers. These flowers aren’t fit for sale – they’re not whole, or they’re not as perfect as the rest of their batch – and it’s a fun exercise to see how he can arrange these flowers that don’t always look right together. Lots of people think that flower arrangement is as simple as just getting a few nice-looking flowers and shoving them together, but there’s an art to it. And he feels very attached to his flowers; after all, he wouldn’t have opened up Beelicious otherwise.

The bell chimes, startling Cas out of his arranging, and he looks up to see a man storming right up to the counter. Oh, that’s not a good look on his face. Has he been rejected? Treated poorly? Or is he just having a bad day? Cas already starts to run through a mental list of flowers to convey negative feelings.

Once the man reaches the counter, he slams twenty dollars on the smooth wood. Cas looks at the money, then up at the man.

“How do I passive-aggressively say ‘fuck you’ in flower?” the man growls. Ah, so it _is_ relationship troubles.

“May I ask why you want to know?” Cas says politely. The man growls.

“Do you stick your nose in everyone’s business?” he snaps. Cas forces a bland smile onto his face. Okay, so the man’s pretty good-looking – dark blond hair in short spikes, freckles dotting his face, and the brightest green eyes that Cas has ever seen – but he doesn’t appear to be a very nice person. Still, Cas reminds himself, the man’s probably had an awful day. He can’t really judge the guy for lashing out like that.

“Well, there are hundreds of different types of flowers,” he says professionally. “And many can have different meanings depending on their context. I need more information if you want the perfect bouquet.”

Plus, this man is really attractive. Maybe if it _is_ a break-up, Cas can take this opportunity –

He slaps himself mentally. Here he is, with a customer who’s going through troubles, and all he can think of is how he can take advantage of those troubles.

“My boyfriend’s a dick,” the man says darkly. He shakes his head. “Wait. _Ex_ -boyfriend. I’m done with his shit. And I’m gonna tell him so. So, what you got?”

“You _are_ breaking up with him?” Cas says carefully. The man nods stiffly. “Okay, so you’ll want these.”

He leads the man over to the geraniums and picks out a small handful of pink ones.

“They mean ‘stupidity’,” he supplies. The man’s lips curve in a smirk.

“Nice,” he says. “What else you got for me?”

Cas leads him over to a pot of purple foxgloves.

“I take it that he’s lied to you in the past?” he says. The man snorts.

“Oh, you have no idea.”

“Then I’d recommend some foxgloves. They mean ‘insincerity’.”

The man eagerly accepts two stalks of foxglove.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Cas says. “I never asked for your name!”

He doesn’t need a customer’s name unless taking an order, but he’s not going to pass up this opportunity to try and get to know a good-looking man while he can.

Oh, he’s hopeless.

“Dean,” the man says. “And you’re…Castiel?”

He squints at the nametag on Cas’ apron. Cas nods, his cheeks prickling with warmth.

“Call me Cas. All my friends do.”

He realises what he said a moment later and his eyes widen. Dean’s smirk just widens.

“Alright then…Cas. What else you got for me? This is gonna be the biggest ‘fuck you’ to Crowley ever.”

“If you want to tell him how useless you think he is, I’d recommend meadowsweet,” Cas says, leading Dean to a pot of tiny white flowers. “And here are some yellow carnations. They mean ‘you have disappointed me’. I’d also top it all off with some of these orange lilies, which mean ‘hatred’.”

By the time he’s finished recommending flowers, Dean has a small bunch gathered in his arms. Cas can’t help but laugh.

“What?” Dean says.

“That is the most hate I’ve ever seen,” Cas chuckles. Dean joins him in laughing.

“That all you got?”

“Yes, if you want an arrangement that’s aesthetically pleasing,” Cas replies. “Flower arrangement is more than just taking flowers and putting them together. Plus, you only offered me twenty dollars.”

Dean snickers.

“Yeah, that’ll do. I ain’t wasting more money on that dick.”

Cas takes Dean back to the counter to pay, and his stomach swoops pleasantly when Dean grins widely at him.

“Thanks, Cas,” he says. “I really owe ya one.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Cas says with a shrug. “I was happy to help. I hope your ex-boyfriend enjoys his bouquet.”

Dean’s grin turns downright predatory.

“Oh, he will.”

When he leaves, Cas sighs and returns to arranging his flowers, disappointment curling in his belly. Oh, well. It isn’t as though there aren’t any more attractive men out there, especially ones who would reciprocate his attraction. He just wishes that Dean was one of those men.

* * *

 

To his pleased surprise, Dean’s back in two weeks – and this time, he looks a lot happier.

“Hello, Dean.” Cas can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. He hasn’t been able to get the man out of his mind and his insides soar at seeing Dean again.

“Heya, Cas,” Dean replies, leaning against the counter.

“How did your ex take his bouquet?”

“Oh, he thought I was tryin’ to suck up to him.” Dean gives a casual shrug. “So I threw them in his face and told him to look up what they meant. Haven’t seen him since. I got all my stuff when he was at work.”

“Well, thank you for the update. I always enjoy hearing about how my bouquets are received.”

“Actually…” Dean swallows, his smile fading. “I need your help again, Cas. See, I’ve met someone else, and I don’t know him that well but I wanna get to know him. All I know is that he’s really cute and kinda funny.”

“Oh.” Cas’ shoulders nearly sag under sudden, invisible weight. Okay, he’s glad that Dean’s moved on, but the reminder that he’s clearly not in contention leaves a dull ache in his stomach. Realising that Dean’s staring at him, he pastes a wide smile on his face. “I’m so glad you’ve found somebody else, Dean. I’m certain he’ll treat you with all of the respect and love that you deserve.”

Dean’s whole face turns pink.

“Uh…thanks, Cas. So…you reckon you can help me pick out some flowers to ask him out?”

Smile still pasted on his face, Cas nods.

“Of course. What sort of message do you want to give him?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Well, different flowers have different ways of conveying affection. A gloxinia means ‘love at first sight’, while a red carnation means ‘my heart aches for you’, and a ranunculus means ‘I am dazzled by your charms’. You could use any of them to ask him out, so it merely depends on what you wish to say. I used a jonquil when I asked out my ex-boyfriend, since it means ‘love me, affection returned, desire’.” His lips curve into a bitter smile. “Of course, that only lasted for a month.”

He wants to hit himself over the head. Why the heck would Dean want to hear his sob story?

“Hmm.” Dean lapses into thought but, to Cas’ surprise, he looks _happy_. Why’s he so happy at hearing about Cas’ sorry love life? “How would you ask someone out, Cas? If you had to pick out some flowers to ask out who you like, what would you choose now?”

Cas’ stomach jolts. Oh, this is so cruel. Does the universe hate him or something?”

“Well,” he says, a little louder than necessary in order to silence his racing mind, “if I was immediately attracted upon meeting him, I might give him a thornless rose or a gloxinia to tell him that it was ‘love at first sight’. If he was especially breathtaking, I might also give him a ranunculus.”

“‘I am dazzled by your charms’,” Dean rattles off. He grins at a startled Cas. “See? I listen.”

Cas just smiles stupidly at him.

“If he’s absolutely perfect to you –” and yeah, Cas is projecting a bit, but hey, blame his huge crush on this adorable guy he barely knows, “– then a white camellia will tell him that you adore him and that you find him perfect and lovely.”

He shuts up to let Dean process all of this information, even though he’s got loads more flowers he can list off. Heck, he could talk about flowers all day if allowed.

“Show me all the flowers you just said?” Dean says. Cas dutifully leads him to each one, then lets him think about which ones he’ll choose.

“I’ll take some thornless roses and red carnations,” Dean finally decides.

“So you remembered what I said about red carnations?” Cas laughs to mask how his stomach sinks. Whoever Dean intends to give these flowers to will be a very lucky man indeed.

He once again mentally reprimands himself. This is inappropriate. Dean is a customer, and Cas has only spoken to him twice in his whole life. This pining is, quite frankly, pathetic.

Then again, he’s always been a piner. Maybe that’s why Inias broke up with him.

“Course I did!” Dean says. Cas blinks, remembering that hello, he’s still having a conversation and shouldn’t be drifting off into his own head. “How much do I owe ya? And hey, do you have little cards to write in?”

Once he’s paid and written his message in the small card attached to the bouquet, Dean remains standing there for a few moments, frozen. Cas frowns.

“Are you okay, Dean?” he says. Dean jumps.

“What? Yeah!” he says quickly. “I – bye, Cas! Thanks for the help!”

He practically sprints out of the store. Cas stares after him for a moment, then turns away to stare at the wall behind him, blinking back tears. Had he really made that much of a negative impression on Dean? Sure, he’d rambled on about his flowers, but…Dean had seemed to like it? Surely he’d have spoken up if Cas was boring him?

The chime of the bell jolts him back to reality. He turns just in time for Dean to thrust the bouquet into his arms with a mumbled, “TheseareforyouIhopeyoulikeI’machickenokaybye,” and then flee the store again. Cas remains rooted to the spot.

“What the…?” he murmurs. He stares at the bouquet for a moment, then fumbles for the attached card with shaky fingers. What he reads inside floors him.

_Cas,_

_So, uh…surprise. I kinda like you. You want to go out with me sometime? I wrote my number so you can reply. Unless you don’t want to. Then just ignore it if you want._

_Fuck, I’m bad at this._

_Dean_


End file.
